Houston joined cities across the country Wednesday in regulating the growing short term rental industry after months of debate and compromise between rental owners and their discontented neighbors.
Starting Jan. 1, all houses and apartments rented out for fewer than 30 days must be registered with the city’s Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department for an annual fee of $275 per unit. Those licenses are subject to revocation if the unit owners, operators or tenants repeatedly are cited for breaking sound, litter or health codes.
Some Houston residents have pushed for such legislation for more than a year and asked the City Council to limit the number of units that could be on a single block or in a multifamily property. The council, however, was restricted by the lack of zoning in Houston, which limits how the city regulates property use.
Council members on Wednesday said the ordinance would act as the start of a larger conversation about enforcement, and they could return later to make it stronger if needed.
“We have to enforce this now,” At-Large Councilmember Julian Ramirez said. “If we don’t take the steps necessary to enforce it then people will still be unhappy.”
EARLIER: ‘Just as frustrated as you are’: Houston City Council to take up short-term rental rules
Neighbors will be able to report units that break the ordinance and unruly behavior through an online portal next year, ARA Chief of Staff Billy Rudolph said last week.
Citations from police, fire and Public Works will be reported on a monthly basis to ARA, and the director will have discretion through the ordinance to revoke a rental’s license.
If a rental owner or operator has three or more registrations revoked within a two-year period, the ARA director can decide to revoke all of their registrations.
At-Large District Councilmember Twila Carter voted for the ordinance Wednesday because “a lot of work” went into it, but said she worried ARA would not have the resources to make a difference.
“I think if HPD (Houston Police Department) couldn’t address the noise, and the lewd, bad behavior, prostitution, human trafficking, shootings and all of that, I don’t know that this solves the problem,” Carter said. “But now I believe it’s your problem.”
More from City Hall
The city of Houston’s projected $330 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1 was cut by approximately one-third Tuesday.
The Texas Supreme Court decided in January that the city needed to put an additional $100 million into its street and drainage maintenance fund before the end of June following a years-long court case over whether the city had been shortchanging the fund for years.
Mayor John Whitmire’s administration successfully negotiated a plan with the case’s plaintiffs to allocate the money over time, instead of solely this year.
ABC13 first reported the news Tuesday night. The station reported that Houston will allocate $16 million to the fund this fiscal year and $48 million next year, with the full amount paid by 2028.
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